Sewer repair could cost township more than $100K

LOWER POTTSGROVE » Repairs to a crucial sewer pump station may cost as much as $100,000, according to Township Manager Ed Wagner.

Wagner updated the township commissioners on the situation April 2 and said the costs for the March 3 incident are still being calculated.

“But it looks like it will be well over six figures,” Wagner told Digital First Media afterward.

The accident began in the middle of a snowstorm on March 3 when a valve gauge collapsed into a sewer main and began leaking sewage into the pump station on Porter Road.

Nearly all sewage in the township must pass through that station on its way to be treated at the Pottstown Wastewater Treatment Facility on Industrial Highway, Wagner said.

It wasn’t long before “we had 20 feet of sewage in the structure,” Wagner said.

Personnel from the township and Sanatoga Fire Company responded and, wearing breathing apparatus due to the stench, began pumping out the building into an adjacent field, so as to keep the untreated sewage from polluting Sprogel’s Run.

It took about eight hours for the pumping and repair to be completed, with the last crew members leaving around 4 a.m. on March 4, he said.

The repair is still holding, but it is temporary, said Wagner.

The township’s insurance company will likely cover most of the costs of a more permanent repair, but those costs have not yet been finalized.

On April 2, the commissioners offered thanks to all the personnel who responded to the situation.